Driving Qualified Leads with White Papers

White papers are valuable marketing tools for your business and can provide important information for your customers. The best white papers position your company as a thought leader as you answer user questions. Most sites offer free downloads of white papers, case studies and other resources, in exchange for contact information. To increase the likelihood of receiving the lead information, you need to demonstrate the value of your white paper and why the user should download it.

Create Content Around Interesting Topics:

It is very important that you are writing a white paper that will be interesting and applicable to your target audience. When you have an interesting title, more people will be inclined to download and read your white paper. Content that answers common questions and offers suggestions to typical challenges your audience may have are more likely to be downloaded.

Highlight What They Are Getting:

Make sure to let your users know what they will be receiving by reading your white paper. Map out important takeaways, an overview, table of contents or visuals. This is a good time to keep copy clear and precise so you do not mislead your readers.

Include A Visually Appealing Cover:

Using visuals to keep users engaged is not a new trick. This will help you maintain brand consistency, and keep users engaged with a clean design concept. Be sure to include relevant branding by using your company logo.

Make It Reader-Friendly:

Reading a long page of plain block text can make reading your white paper monotonous. Add sub titles, headlines and bullet points to break up text.

Include Download Details:

Provide instructions on how to download your white paper, format information and how many pages your white paper contains.

Create A Landing Page for Your White Paper:

 Make sure your white paper is easy to find on your website and has its own landing page. Keep download forms short. The more form fields you require the user to fill-out to receive the white paper, the less likely they are to do so. Requesting basic contact info such as name, email and company name are best practice in terms of form fields.

 Make It Easy to Share:

It is important to make your white paper easy to share on social media. This will attract more reader’s and different audiences. To do so, add shareable links within the white paper to maximize engagement.

Have A Follow Up Conversation:

When using white papers to drive leads, it is essential you use the information given by your customers to understand them better. Continue to nurture the lead by sending them additional resources that would be of interest based on their behaviors. This will then lead to generating a response or conversation.

Provide Contact Information:

Keep your contact information accessible on every page, so if the user has questions they can contact you directly.